A tying member of such a bale generally comprises a narrow steel band or a steel wire or a number of such wires. To process a bale, these tying members must be removed, i.e. severed. Up to now this cutting has been done manually, e.g. by an ax or a side cutter severing the ties one at a time. This work is dangerous since with a bale under a high tying pressure, the steel band or wire may snap out like a whip and fly through the air uncontrollably.
An apparatus for cutting a tying member of a bale of a raw material is known in which a cutting blade moves with a high speed toward the bale. The blade can have a length of about 1.5 m, a width of 20 cm and a thickness of 1 cm can be pivot able about a rotating pin provided at one of its ends and impacts over the entire width of a bale by action of a strong spring whose tension is provided by a twin crank drive. Such a device is of expensive construction and problematical in operation. It is not always reliable since under certain circumstances individual tying members which have been pressed too deeply into the bale may not be cut through by a blade impacting over the entire bale width.